Biography
James Flavin was an American character actor whose career spanned from 1932 to 1976. He appeared in nearly four hundred films and around one hundred television episodes, often in supporting roles as policemen, detectives, guards or military figures, many of them uncredited.
Born James William Flavin Jr. in Portland, Maine, he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point but left without graduating. He began acting in summer stock in Maine in 1929 and worked in theatre companies across the country before arriving in Los Angeles around 1932. His film debut was in the serial The Airmail Mystery (1932). He played Mate Briggs in King Kong (1933) and appeared in films including The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Laura (1944), Mildred Pierce (1945) and In Cold Blood (1967). On television he had roles in series such as The Addams Family (1964) and The Twilight Zone (1959). He made his Broadway debut in the 1969 revival of The Front Page.
Flavin was married to actress Lucile Browne from 1932 until his death. He died in Los Angeles on 23 April 1976.
